2014 Ford Focus 1.6 SE - Get the Manual!
July 4, 2014
By: Anthony Murdoch
When you’re down on power compared to other’s in the segment, what to do? Go with the manual transmission, that’s what. The Fiesta’s slick shifting 5-speed manual has a somewhat tall shifter, however it offers positive feel and I never once missed a shift. Trust me, get the manual and skip the automatic. It will save you money, be more fun to drive, and in the long run prove to most likely be more reliable.
The 1.6 I-4 offers 120 Horsepower and 112 lb.ft of torque., which is decent enough when paired with the manual, however I found it to be somewhat lacking in feel and unless revved hard, making decent progress is not as easy as in other similarly powered cars such as the Civic or even the base model Jetta with its ancient 2.0 litre. The reason the Jetta feels livelier is that although it is down on power, it has more torque at lower revs. Simply put, this motor could use more low-end grunt.
I found the throttle to be jumpy and not well calibrated, which made shifting gears in a smooth manner not as easy as it should be. Honestly, sometimes I wish for the old days of throttle cables!
Fuel economy over my week long test was pretty decent. I averaged around 6.9 litres per 100 km, with a mix of city and highway driving. Not bad at all!
Overall, this Fiesta handles pretty decent and the ride is not that bad. Compared to the Fiesta ST, which is as still as nails, I found the lazier setup to be a lot nicer on my back, although it does roll quite a bit more in the corners. Braking was decent with the stock discs in front and drums in rear, with average pedal feel and decent fade free performance.
My test car rang in at $22,300 before tax. Options on the car included a sunroof, heated seats, MyFord Touch (which on this car was slow and had an unresponsive region in the display, perhaps a defect) navigation and 16 inch alloy wheels.
Overall, the Fiesta makes a good city car however if you do a lot of highway driving I would get something with more power for passing, especially if you drive in the mountains.
By: Anthony Murdoch
When you’re down on power compared to other’s in the segment, what to do? Go with the manual transmission, that’s what. The Fiesta’s slick shifting 5-speed manual has a somewhat tall shifter, however it offers positive feel and I never once missed a shift. Trust me, get the manual and skip the automatic. It will save you money, be more fun to drive, and in the long run prove to most likely be more reliable.
The 1.6 I-4 offers 120 Horsepower and 112 lb.ft of torque., which is decent enough when paired with the manual, however I found it to be somewhat lacking in feel and unless revved hard, making decent progress is not as easy as in other similarly powered cars such as the Civic or even the base model Jetta with its ancient 2.0 litre. The reason the Jetta feels livelier is that although it is down on power, it has more torque at lower revs. Simply put, this motor could use more low-end grunt.
I found the throttle to be jumpy and not well calibrated, which made shifting gears in a smooth manner not as easy as it should be. Honestly, sometimes I wish for the old days of throttle cables!
Fuel economy over my week long test was pretty decent. I averaged around 6.9 litres per 100 km, with a mix of city and highway driving. Not bad at all!
Overall, this Fiesta handles pretty decent and the ride is not that bad. Compared to the Fiesta ST, which is as still as nails, I found the lazier setup to be a lot nicer on my back, although it does roll quite a bit more in the corners. Braking was decent with the stock discs in front and drums in rear, with average pedal feel and decent fade free performance.
My test car rang in at $22,300 before tax. Options on the car included a sunroof, heated seats, MyFord Touch (which on this car was slow and had an unresponsive region in the display, perhaps a defect) navigation and 16 inch alloy wheels.
Overall, the Fiesta makes a good city car however if you do a lot of highway driving I would get something with more power for passing, especially if you drive in the mountains.
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